Complaint Investigation Report

During staff interviews conducted on March 26, 2025, staff admitted to opening C1’s mail. Staff explained that they were actively assisting C1 and C1’s placement agency in reestablishing C1’s public assistance benefits. They were expecting important documents from a government agency to arrive at the facility, which were needed to complete the benefits reapplication process.

Staff consistently stated that they were monitoring C1’s mail closely to ensure timely processing of the documents, as C1’s benefits had been canceled over six months prior due to fraudulent activity. Staff indicated they only opened mail related to this specific situation and that all other mail was delivered to C1 unopened.

Interviews with staff and clients confirmed that this was an isolated incident and not standard protocol. Staff acknowledged the importance of respecting clients’ rights and agreed that going forward, all personal and official mail would be delivered to C1 unopened.

The Department has investigated the above-mentioned allegation and found sufficient evidence to corroborate it. Therefore, this allegation is deemed substantiated. A substantiated finding means the allegation is valid because the preponderance of the evidence standard has been met.

A deficiency was cited in accordance with Title 22, Division 6, Chapter 8 of the California Code of Regulations, and is documented on LIC 9099-D. A plan of correction was developed in collaboration with Administrator Dawnne Melton.

An exit interview was conducted with Staff, Kimberly Wallman, to whom a copy of this report, the LIC 811 Confidential Names List, and the Licensee Appeal Rights (LIC 9058 03/22) were provided at the conclusion of the visit.